I knew what he was going to say as soon as we made eye contact. A bearded shit-eating grin in a pickup-truck stopped at a light while I cycled across the intersection to join a trail packed with university students. I just wanted to clear my head after events of
Continue readingAuthor: Marie Snyder
A Puff of Absurdity: On Optional Grade 13 – aka Breaking the 34-Credit Threshold
When Conservatives Mike Harris and Ernie Eves decided to get rid of grade 13 and the OAC year – Ontario Academic Credit – in 2003, I was opposed to the move even though Ontario was last in Canada to offer it. At the time, everyone had to finish grade 12,
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Pandemic Amnesia
Someone told me that we need to adapt to Covid faster, and get used to masks and checking air quality much faster for our own survival. They think our problem is our inability to adapt to this new environment. I said that I think we have adapted quickly, but we’ve done
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Are We Being Manipulated to Ignore Covid?
Recently @LauraMiers wrote: “When people finally realize they’re being manipulated–that repeated Covid infections cause permanent organ damage and autoimmunity, dramatically shorten life spans, exacerbate all re-existing issues, and lead to a markedly decreased quality of life–they’re going to be furious. The “Urgency of Normal’ people are running out of arguments so
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: The Harrowing Road for Candidates – and the Rest of Us
I’ve recently read two articles on the problem and solution to the current nastiness in elections after hearing first hand about serious issues candidates have had at the door. You never know who you’re going to get when you knock on someone’s door, and most people don’t want to buy
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Masks Work
I posted this on social media, and it garnered some notice: At almost half a million distinct views in four days, it’s doing considerably better than my entire blog! Of course many viewers were not also likers and I’ve had to set aside some blocking time each day to weed
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Student Led Differentiation
Occasionally we actually get some good ideas from PD in-servicing. I previously wrote in praise of Paul Gorski‘s anti-grit (possibly now anti-resilience) stance. Today we watched a video that, in a nutshell, asked us to better understand how stats work, which is a very necessary concept for everyone to grasp
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Not Dead Yet!
This pandemic feels like living in a horror movie that just keeps going on and on. We think the killer is dead, but then they come back for yet another attack. Is this one finally the end? Is this one?? When is it over?? Checking our watch is a bad sign
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Removing Mask Mandates
I’m gobsmacked by the recent move to remove the mask mandate for schools starting March 21st, at the start of spring. The Hamilton Board dared to face down the ministry, but my board only had one trustee, a former nurse, willing to go on record as voting against the new
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Masks, Ventilation, and Contact Tracing – Yes, Again!
On Monday I presented to my school board to try to persuade them to keep masks even if (when) Ford removes mandates and to allow me to keep my Corsi-Rosenthal filtration unit in my classroom, dammit! Here’s my 8 minute presentation/plea. They said “thanks” very politely, then the Associate Director
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On the Importance of Civics Classes
On Monday, I did a five minute bit on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning with Ismaila Alfa about teaching civics. They called me last Sunday afternoon, having exhausted all other avenues, because I happened to tweet this the previous day: It wasn’t even a particularly well-liked tweet! And then right after
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Lunatic Fringe?
I’m a bit of a social media addict, but I quietly wandered away from Facebook last summer when too many people I know in real life were making fun of people wearing masks. A quick peek back finds far too much support for this inane convoy making a mess of
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Bad News is Increasing, but More Slowly?
Teaching in Ontario right now is an absurdist’s wet dream. Schools can only close if there’s more than 30% absent, and many classes are half full, but nobody’s actually away because any online contact gets them marked present, so even sick kids are logging in. Masks provided for kids smell
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Ontario Schools Opening Monday: A Collection of Responses
There is a simmering rage out there from Lecce & Moore’s reiteration of the “leaked” news of schools being in-person in five days. Of course it wasn’t truly leaked. This is how Ford gets feedback on his ideas before making them his ideas. It’s a childish way of establishing plausible
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Juris My Diction Crap
This Matrix clip has been at the front of my mind since I started looking into how to get a booster for my youngest, who’s 17, because I question if recent orders around delaying boosters for the 12-17 and around getting kids back to school in nine days are really for
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: LTC Homes: Ownership Matters
Nancy Olivieri, Michael Hurley, Vivian Stamatopoulos, and Natalie Mehra explained Doug Ford’s sneaky passing of Bill 37 just before Christmas in today’s Toronto Star. They warn, “Hope to live out your old age in dignity and comfort? Think again.” Ford doesn’t want us to know what’s been stolen from Ontarians.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Resilience During a Pandemic in a Capitalist Dystopia
I learned little from English classes. I think my highest grade in high school was a 53. I mastered grammar and that formulaic essay enough to slip over into a passing grade, but I never understood all the metaphor and symbolism talk. At the time, I suspected it was all
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Parenting in the Time of Covid
He was on his way out the door, to walk around with a new friend outside. Me: Rapid test, masks, or walking 6′ apart? Which are you doing? Him: It bothers me that you ask. I shouldn’t have to live with your anxieties. You just ask because you’re anxious about
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On "Fixing" ASD
I watched a course-load of videos by Dr. Alok Kanojia (@HealthyGamerGG) this past summer. He’s a therapist specializing in addiction in his day job and focused on gaming addictions online, but he has broadened his videos to encompass many other issues. He doesn’t do therapy online but “coaches” people instead.
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Chomsky’s Lessons from 2021
Yanis Varoufakis spoke to Noam Chomsky, at DiEM25, about what 2021 has taught us. In a nutshell: the wealthy puts profits over people to their own detriment (e.g. patent rights over vaccines, which provoked mutations) and will only help with climate change if they can profit without taking risks. We
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